Mornings After
by Steffie Black
Summary: Sequel to Blood of a Werewolf. Every month, the morning after the full moon, a mysterious person takes care of Remus, but when he wakes up, they have always left…RLNT oneshot.written before HBP, no spoilers


Disclaimer: I still own nothing… (but did I ever tell you about that dream I once had…?)

Summary: Sequel to Blood of a Werewolf. (Some things will make more sense if you read that one and Memory of a lost Dream, the first instalment of these series, first, if you haven't read them already, that is.) Every month, the morning after the full moon, a mysterious person takes care of Remus, but when he wakes up, they have always left…RL/NT one-shot.

A/N: these series of stories was started before HBP, so there will probably be some things that don't correspond, although I'll try to make the next instalments as close to it as possible.

**Mornings After…**

It was still dark outside, but the full moon gave enough light for the young woman to see her whereabouts. Soon, however, the moon would set, and she had to hurry if she wanted to be there on time.

Like every full moon night for the last four months, she had woken up in the middle of the night to gather healing potions and clean bandages. When she was certain she had everything she could need to take care of a werewolf the morning after a full moon, she made a portkey and left for Romania.

The first full moon after Nymphadora Tonks had left Remus in Romania, she had portkeyed just outside of the forest in which he lived, not thinking about the fact the nights could be cold, even in the middle of summer. Luckily for her, she still knew where to find Grawp's cave, which was situated near the edge of said forest, and she had been even more lucky to find the Giant awake. Grawp had gladly welcomed her in his cave, where she could wait until dawn without having to worry about catching a cold by the time the moon would set.

Ever since then, during every next full moon, Grawp would stay up to welcome the Wizarding Private Detective in his cave, and they would wait together. Grawp seemed to really enjoy her visits and took the opportunity to improve his talking abilities and Tonks found she enjoyed talking to the friendly giant too.

Then, at dawn, Tonks would apparate just outside Remus' little hut, which was situated deep in the woods. Luckily, during the two days she had been there with him, she had been able to take in her surroundings well enough to be able to apparate there. Tracking Remus down from there wasn't that hard. After all, as a former Auror and a Privet Detective, Tonks had enough experience in tracking.

The first month, however, hadn't been easy, the forest was dark and the trees were standing close together. It had taken some time to find him and added to that time the time needed to clean his wounds had been enough for him to wake up, she almost didn't get away in time, that first morning.

It wasn't really that he couldn't see her there or that she was afraid for his reaction when he did see her. Tonks just figured it would be better if they weren't confronted with the other's (conscious) presence. The last time they had talked, he had made it clear to her he didn't want to see her there anymore, and she wanted to respect that wish. There was also the little fact that he had hurt her and she didn't want him to know she cared this much for him, maybe it was selfish of her, but she just didn't want him to see her.

The second time, it had been easier to find him and since then she more or less knew where he ended up in the mornings, because for some reason, he always seemed to end up more or less at the same place, in or near the clearing where she and Firenze had found him that one morning, when she had first seen him again after five years of uncertainty about his whereabouts.

He had been severely wounded back then, and it had made Tonks realise he could really use someone to take care of him on mornings after, even though Remus would never admit it. That was also something she was sure of, and one more reason why she didn't want him to see her.

When he had lived at Grimmauld Place, Remus had never allowed anyone near him the night of the full moon or the day after, except for Sirius. After Sirius was gone, Tonks had once offered to stay with Remus, but the answer she got made it clear to her he didn't want her there and she hadn't dared to ask a second time.

Dawn had come, and Tonks was now quickly making her way to the clearing where she knew she would find Remus.

_Strange how he always seems to end up here, it's almost as if he knows that when he changes back here, I will come to take care of him. _The thought occurred to her again, just like it had last month, but just like last month, she dismissed it.

_That's not possible, werewolves can't think like that, besides, Remus doesn't even want me here._

Like the last four months, she levitated Remus on a stretcher and brought him to his hut. There, she cleaned out his wounds and bandaged them, prepared some breakfast for when he woke up and set down carefully the healing potions.

She had thought about bringing him the Wolfsbane Potion once, but then she would first have to ask Hermione to make it, and as first assistant of the Minister for Magic, she had already enough work to do. Besides, if she brought Remus the Wolfsbane Potion, he would certainly see her and that had been enough reason for Tonks to leave things the way they were.

With one last glance towards Remus' sleeping form, Tonks left his hut and disapparated.

_I'll see you next month, Remus, and even though you never see me and we never talk, I'm looking forward to it once again. Because if these mornings after are the only times I can spend with you, I'll cherish them, even though you'll never know it._

* * *

He came awake slowly, gradually climbing back into consciousness. 

The first thing that reached his senses was the scent. That one scent he hadn't been able to smell for five years and had longed for all that time. The scent to which he had woken up five months ago, after the full moon. The same scent to which he had woken up every morning after for the last four months. Strawberries, but sweeter than real ones.

The first full moon after she had left him alone again, _after I pushed her away, _he thought bitterly, he had thought he had only imagined it, thinking it was his hope of her coming back, or maybe he just smelled the strawberries growing outside his hut. But as he had come to full awareness, he had noticed his wounds were bandaged and upon further inspection he had found healing potions and breakfast on the table.

A part of him still wasn't sure it had been Nymphadora Tonks, she could easily have told someone else where he was, like she had told Harry, and, whoever it was, they could be responsible for this.

But the next full moon, he had again awoken to the scent of strawberries, and that month it couldn't have been real strawberries, since they had all been gone by then.

He was certain then that it must be Tonks who took care of him every morning after the full moon.

That knowledge brought a mixture of emotions to him.

On the one hand, he never asked for help, he didn't want help, even though he had to admit he could use it sometimes. And he certainly wouldn't want _her_ help, he simply didn't want her to see him at his worst. But he knew it was too late for that, after what happened five months ago. After all, he had attacked her and still she had taken care of him for the next two days.

On the other hand, he was really grateful. She was probably the only person, except for his mother, who had gone through that much trouble for him and even travelled back and forth between London and Romania once a month, just to take care of him.

_I don't deserve this, after how I treated her when I last saw her. I never thought she would come back after that. _

But she did come back, every month. Knowing that warmed his heart and he had to admit a part of him liked the idea of Tonks taking care of him.

Remus opened his eyes, breathing in deeply through his nose to let her scent engulf him as much as possible. He glanced around his hut, but Tonks wasn't there. He hadn't expected her to, she had never been there when he woke up. He suspected she didn't want to talk to him and he couldn't blame her.

He couldn't help hoping every time he picked up her scent, that maybe this time, she would still be there. He wanted to see her again, although he didn't know what to say to her.

But it was just as well for him if she didn't want to be seen, knowing she had been there again was enough for now. Because that meant she still cared, and as long as she cared, he could hope.

_And maybe, one day, I'll be able to come home and maybe that day, my sweet Nymphadora, I'll be able to reach out to you. Until then, I suppose I shall have to live with you staying just out of reach. And until that day, I shall cherish these little mornings after, with your sweet scent to confirm the little seed of hope you planted five months ago and which is slowly growing inside of me. _

000

_Please review…_

A/N: As I said before, I started this before HBP, and I won't be able to make everything in these series correspond to it, so now I'm wondering if you guys want me to continue this or not…


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